Will we see Casey Mittelstadt start the season with the Sabres?

The former first-round draft pick for the Sabres ended the season last year in the AHL. Will we see him start the season on Buffalo’s roster?

The Buffalo Sabres may have a decision to make surrounding Casey Mittelstadt before the season starts. The former first-round pick played in 31 games for the Sabres last season before getting sent down to the AHL to play for the Rochester Americans to finish the season.

Probably the most significant battle in Sabres training camp revolves around Mittelstadt. He is trying to solidify his spot as a bottom-six forward on the Sabres roster. He is competing against mainly Curtis Lazar and Rasmus Asplund.

In the 31 games Mittelstadt played last season, he recorded four goals and five assists. He appeared in many more games in the 2018-2019 season. In 77 games that season, he had 12 goals and 13 assists. He has yet to put up the quality numbers that Buffalo was hoping from him when they drafted him in 2017.

The battle between these three to get that bottom-six center spot is an intriguing one for sure. Lazar is coming off a season where he made 38 appearances with Buffalo and tallied five goals and 10 points. Asplund played in 29 games for the Sabres last year and had one goal and two assists. So none of these three are coming off overly impressive seasons.

At only 22-years-old, Casey still has plenty of time to develop into the type of player the Sabres drafted him to be. But after the Sabres signed him to a one year deal this offseason, that leads me to believe that this is a make-or-break year for Mittelstadt and his future in Buffalo.

If I were to make a prediction right now I would guess that Mittelstadt wins the battle to be the Sabres fourth-line center to start the season. But if he consistently struggles for a stretch of games, I would not be surprised if Buffalo decided to send him back to Rochester and replace him with Lazar or Asplund in hopes to get better production from one of them.